1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to social networking media. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and a method for continuously monitoring and searching activity data shared in real time and/or posted by an enormous number of users on one or more social networking media, such as for example social networks, forums, open chat, news website and blogs, or by media companies on on-line news outlets with the aim of providing information relevant for resolving emergencies, detecting criminal activities, conducting intelligence-related activities, saving lives and the like.
Social networking media have become a popular way for many individuals worldwide to socialize with each other. Typically, the social networking media allow social networking members to create their own online profile with data, pictures, videos and any other information and to communicate with each other by voice, chat, instant message, videoconferencing and so on. Therefore, social networking media provide a lot of information about their members.
Over the past decades, law enforcement officials have realized that a significant number of life threatening situations, criminal actions, terrorism-related and/or urgent issues have been reported on the social networking media, for example by using Facebook or Twitter messages.
It is therefore desirable to provide users, for example the law enforcement and homeland security agencies, with tools suitable for monitoring social networking media in order to detect information shared in real time and/or posted by the users of the social networking media, which are relevant for their activities and allow them to take actions to resolve emergencies, detect criminal activities and save lives.
It is also desirable to provide users with tools suitable for geo-locating and/or assessing the geographical relevance of the detected information, in order to prevent threatening situations, criminal actions, and the like reported in advance on social networking media.
2. Description of Related Art
Systems and methods are known in the art allowing a client, for example a parent, to control activity of one or more selected users, for example his/her child/children, on Internet-based social networking media, typically social networks. The client enter the account(s) of the user(s) whose activity he/she intends to control and selects one or more pre-established controlling criteria. The system notifies the client when the controlled activity meets at least one of the selected controlling criteria.
The above described systems and methods present some drawbacks. First, they allow to control activity of one or more users specified by the client and thus they are not suitable for being used to monitor the enormous number of data, for example messages, photos, etc., sent through the social networks by about tens of thousands or even millions of users. Second, they control the users' activity data already shared and/or posted by the selected users on the social networks and therefore they can not detect in real time relevant activity data, and thus prevent threatening situations and/or urgent issues reported on the Internet-based social networks.